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TS News - Echostar II In Final Orbit Slot

TELE-satellit News, 1 October 1996

Echostar II In Final Orbit Slot
  ENGLEWOOD, Colorado, USA, 96/10/01 (TS) -- EchoStar Communications
Corporation has announced its EchoStar II satellite, which launched
successfully on Sept.10, 1996, from Kourou, French Guiana, has reached its
FCC-assigned final orbit at 119 degrees West Longitude.

  This attainment of final standard geostationary orbit culminates
approximately 10 days of various spacecraft maneuvers managed and
implemented by Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of EchoStar's fleet of
satellites, said Echostar.

  The solar panels and antennas were successfully deployed, as expected, on
Sept. 19.  In-orbit payload testing began on Sept. 27, and is expected to
continue through October.

  The Lockheed Martin Series 7000 satellite, with 16 transponders capable of
transmitting over 100 additional channels for the company's DISH Network
satellite television service, was launched atop an Ariane 42P launch vehicle
and is expected to deliver programming by Nov. 1, 1996.

  EchoStar is presently petitioning the FCC to further expand its channel
offerings to consumers by using all available satellite capacity. The first
step in this process began on Sept. 27, 1996, with FCC approval received for
ninety days for the use of five additional transponders bringing the total
to twenty-six usable transponders capable of delivering in excess of 150
channels.

(c)TELE-satellit 1996. All rights reserved.
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